Newhall Hart

Newhall Hart High, the defending state Division I champion, reaffirmed its No. 1 national ranking by winning the team sweepstakes race at the Mt. San Antonio College invitational on Saturday. Led by Keith Grossman's fourth-place finish, Hart, the top-ranked team by The Harrier magazine, placed four runners among the top 19 to win with 77 points. Madera of the Central Section was second with 88 points, followed by Palos Verdes Peninsula (109) and Concord De La Salle (186).

Less than five seconds into his first varsity summer basketball game, freshman Myles Franklin of Newhall Hart dribbled the length of the court and scored on a layup against Simi Valley Royal. His full-speed-ahead attitude is similar to that of other incoming freshmen basketball players who have debuted this summer. They are all seemingly in attack mode and comfortable stepping onto the court and contributing immediately. Whether it's because some have repeated eighth grade to gain more maturity or have prepared by playing in tough travel-ball situations, they show a fearlessness when competing against older competitors.

At Newhall Hart, the outset of the 21st century is going to be known as the Valaika Era. Every baseball season since 2000, with the exception of 2007, there has been a Valaika brother playing on the varsity team. That's scheduled to continue through 2014. And the brothers don't just show up every four years, put on a uniform and blend into the background. They hit, they field and they make a huge impact. The first brother was Chris, who became Hart's standout shortstop, batting .411, .411 and .426 in his three full varsity seasons.

What's Blake Thomsen of Santa Ana Mater Dei going to do for an encore in his senior year? He has a 4.6 grade-point average. He got a 2300 out of a possible 2400 on the SAT. He's headed to Princeton. Well, he'd probably settle for a trip to Dodger Stadium to play for the Division 1 baseball championship. Thomsen, a senior shortstop, is certainly doing his best to help No. 2-seeded Mater Dei. He had a two-run double and a three-run home run Tuesday as the Monarchs defeated Newhall Hart, 12-2, in a Southern Section second-round playoff game.

What's Blake Thomsen of Santa Ana Mater Dei going to do for an encore in his senior year? He has a 4.6 grade-point average. He got a 2300 out of a possible 2400 on the SAT. He's headed to Princeton. Well, he'd probably settle for a trip to Dodger Stadium to play for the Division 1 baseball championship. Thomsen, a senior shortstop, is certainly doing his best to help No. 2-seeded Mater Dei. He had a two-run double and a three-run home run Tuesday as the Monarchs defeated Newhall Hart, 12-2, in a Southern Section second-round playoff game.

BASEBALL NO. SCHOOL COMMENT 1. Chatsworth (16-0) Joe Guntz is 6-0 for the Chancellors and providing power at the plate. 2. West Torrance (13-1) Jesse Mora, Chris Caraballo and Elliott Salcedo give Warriors plenty of pop. 3. Santa Ana Mater Dei (12-1) Sergio Santos and Richard Mercado are batting .444 and .442, respectively, for Monarchs. 4. Newhall Hart (18-0) Chris Gagnon is batting .545, shortstop Chris Valaika hit a grand slam against Valencia. 5.

Newhall Hart put together two-run rallies Saturday in the third and fifth innings in the Moorpark/Southern California Showdown Gold Division title game at UCLA to defeat Chatsworth, 4-3, and end the Chancellors' state-record winning streak at 54 games. Matt Sreden drove in Matt Valaika with a single and Robert Van Scoyoc walked with the bases loaded in the fifth inning for Hart (4-0-1), ranked No. 12 in the Southland by The Times.

Newhall Hart, which averages 486 yards and 42.9 points, was shut out in the second half but held on for a 21-13 victory over Mission Hills Alemany Saturday in a Southern Section Division III semifinal at College of the Canyons. Hart held Alemany to 207 total yards. Hart linebacker John Bourg intercepted a pass by Casey Clausen and returned the ball 20 yards to the Alemany nine late in the first half and two plays later, fullback Pat Norton caught an 11-yard touchdown pass for a 21-13 lead.

GAME OF THE DAY No. 21 Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro (14-3, 1-0) at Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley (11-6, 0-1) Tonight, 7. Why it matters: Tesoro is considered the favorite to win the South Coast League, but the Titans are still adjusting to the loss of point guard Matt Bailey, who broke his foot on Dec. 30 and will be sidelined the rest of the season. Football players Cody Wittick, Brett Gudim and Robbie Picazo have gotten into basketball shape for Tesoro, which has one of the top centers in Orange County in 6-foot-8 Chris Manresa.

A long bus ride, a stifling hot afternoon and a playoff game against the No. 1-seeded team. It didn't look good for Irvine . . . until the game started. Behind the pinpoint accuracy of pitcher Derek Smith, the Vaqueros stunned Newhall Hart, 4-1, in a second-round game of the Southern Section Division II baseball playoffs Tuesday at Hart.

The pressure was on, so Valencia shortstop Shane Zeile decided to take two deep breaths. "In those situations, you have to be able to tame your nerves because nerves are a big part of this game," he said. "One mistake can cost your team. One home run, you're the hero. " On Wednesday, in the bottom of the ninth inning of a wild Foothill League game, Zeile hit a two-out 2-and-0 pitch over the fence in right field to give the Vikings a 9-8 victory over Newhall Hart. "When I saw it hit the scoreboard, I was ecstatic," he said.

So how did you handle the heat? If you were one of thousands of local high school football players laboring under heavy pads this week, the answer was, dangerously. If you were Garrett Updegraft, one of the captains of the Newhall Hart High freshman team, the answer was almost deadly. If you were his coach, you should have treated it more seriously. If you were the California Interscholastic Federation, you should have stopped it altogether. The recent record temperatures that drenched the Southland in sweat did little to dampen the enthusiasm of football bosses, many of whose teams continued to practice in full pads in 100-degree temperatures.

Record-breaking triple-digit temperatures in Southern California on Monday forced high school football coaches to modify practices and send lots of athletes indoors to escape the heat. The Los Angeles Unified School District canceled all outdoor activities because of excessive heat. North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, a private school, was planning to hold football practice outdoors on its synthetic-turf field. But when temperatures at the school Monday afternoon registered 115 degrees — 126 on the turf — it was decided that the team would walk through plays outside, then come indoors for a modified practice.

It's the second year in which coaches in the Southern Section are no longer banned from associating with athletes out of their sports seasons, and football coaches are starting to become more creative with the added freedom. Even though there are no longer any rules dictating when spring football practice can take place, most coaches are sticking with the old schedule of having 15 days of practices starting next month because practicing any earlier would interfere with spring-sport athletes.

At Newhall Hart, the outset of the 21st century is going to be known as the Valaika Era. Every baseball season since 2000, with the exception of 2007, there has been a Valaika brother playing on the varsity team. That's scheduled to continue through 2014. And the brothers don't just show up every four years, put on a uniform and blend into the background. They hit, they field and they make a huge impact. The first brother was Chris, who became Hart's standout shortstop, batting .411, .411 and .426 in his three full varsity seasons.

Ten seasons into the 21st century, it's clear that high school football in Southern California has been changed forever, and the reason is what happens during summer practices. No longer do fans, coaches or even players need to wait until pads are put on in the fall to figure out which teams are going to be good. All the clues become visible during those so-called "meaningless" seven-on-seven passing competitions. That's the lesson learned from last summer. There was one school that stood out above all others -- Huntington Beach Edison.

Sometimes a victory, no matter what team it's against, is all it takes to change the momentum of a season seemingly gone bad. For Newhall Hart, which started the season with three consecutive losses, the crucial victory came last week against Van Nuys Birmingham. Now the Indians, ranked No. 8 in the Southland by The Times, are on a winning streak.

Perris was knocked out of the Southern Section playoffs the last three seasons by Fullerton Troy, the best team in the division, and on Saturday fourth-seeded Newhall Hart appeared to make it four in a row. The host Indians, looking very much like the best team in Division I-A and playing at a blistering pace for three quarters, scored a 69-56 victory over Perris to advance to the semifinals Tuesday against Pasadena. "I think they're going to win it all," Perris Coach Marvin Johnson said.

Call it a kinetic anomaly. That's what happens when receiver Nelson Spruce of Westlake Village Westlake decides to twist, turn or contort his body, then somehow make a catch while defying gravity. He's always doing something to counter the defender when the ball is in motion, whether that means slowing up, speeding up or changing directions. "It's an ability to adjust to the football without the defensive back having an opportunity to make a play," Coach Jim Benkert said.

GAME OF THE DAY No. 21 Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro (14-3, 1-0) at Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley (11-6, 0-1) Tonight, 7. Why it matters: Tesoro is considered the favorite to win the South Coast League, but the Titans are still adjusting to the loss of point guard Matt Bailey, who broke his foot on Dec. 30 and will be sidelined the rest of the season. Football players Cody Wittick, Brett Gudim and Robbie Picazo have gotten into basketball shape for Tesoro, which has one of the top centers in Orange County in 6-foot-8 Chris Manresa.